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Stay Away From these Fruits and Vegetables

Updated Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce

Your best bet is to buy only organic fruits and vegetables, as synthetic agricultural chemicals are not permissible under the USDA organic rules. That said, not all conventionally grown fruits and vegetables are subjected to the same amount of pesticide load.

And with food prices rising, many are looking for ways to buy the healthiest foods possible at the lowest cost.
One such way would be to focus on purchasing certain organic items, while “settling” for others that are conventionally-grown. To do this, I recommend familiarizing yourself with the Environmental Working Group’s (EWG’s) annual Shoppers' Guide to Pesticides in Produce.²
Of the 48 different fruit and vegetable categories tested by the EWG for the 2013 guide, the following 15 fruits and vegetables had the highest pesticide load, making them the most important to buy or grow organically:

 

In contrast, the following foods were found to have the lowest residual pesticide load, making them the safest bet among conventionally grown vegetables. Note that a small amount of sweet corn and most Hawaiian papaya, although low in pesticides, are genetically engineered (GE or GMO). If you’re unsure of whether the sweet corn or papaya is GE, go with the organic varieties:

Learn to identify:

High-quality food -- Whether you’re shopping at a supermarket or a farmer’s market, here are the signs of a high-quality, healthy food:

Pesticides, Herbicides, (the same chemicals you put on your lawn and let your pets and kids play on}, will eventually cause GI problems, if not cancers. Stop eating them. GMO corn and soy, which are in infant formula are all GMO if they're not organic. The BT genes replicate in the stomach causing cell damage. Please buy organic. It's better for you and the environment.

 

My Cat Has Inflammable Bowel Disease.....and why you should care.

As some of you know, I have been dealing with a cat with IBD. It's a tough disease. He is starting to do a little better. I am convinced it's from GM corn and the animals that eat the corn or soy and now alfalfa, and I will tell you why.

There is a film out called 'Genetic Roulette' which has comments and interviews by scientists, doctors and veterinarians. The symptoms of cattle and pigs eating GMO's are showing the same symptoms in IBD cats, (and people), usually resulting in slow death, or at the very least, a very uncomfortable life.

The BT (insecticide) in the corn explodes the stomachs of insects that eat it and the Roundup they spray on the crops keeps the animals that feed on it from absorbing nutrients. They are now seeing stomach and intestine cells of humans and animals being destroyed when they eat the GM soy and corn. Babies are now given GM milk formula. Children have leaky gut syndrome when it didn't exist prior to 1996. BT is found in our bloodstream. Infertility has also risen in both animals and humans since the inception of GMO's in 1996. GI tract issues have also greatly increased since then. Even the 'specialized hypo-allergenic' cat foods aren't good b/c the animals that it's made are contaminated with GMO's. Therefore you are still feeding your pet toxic food. 

Dead Cow after eating GMO crops.

The veterinarian's comments are cutting with examples of what and how this is happening.

The BT gene the pet or human eats from the animal that ate it now has the BT gene replicating in their intestines causing problems.

Please, feed your pets, your children and yourselves only organic. It is the only safe way.

Ben and Jerry's is going completely corn syrup GMO free by the end of this year. Anything with corn or soy that isn't organic is GM (genetically modified) or GE (genetically engineered).

Despite official warnings to our government about Monsanto and Dow's GMO's, all that have 'blown the whistle' have all been fired and discredited. Lawyers from Monsanto are on the boards of the FDA and USDA.

I beg you to get your hands on this film and watch it.

$2.99 Donation to watch the complete film:
http://online.www.geneticroulettemovie.com/
(you won't regret it) 

BT toxin found in 93% of unborn babies

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1388888/GM-food-toxins-blood-93-unborn-babies.html

Your gut is a living pesticide factory 

view here

Photoshop CS6 Keyboard Shortcuts

When using Photoshop CS6, I know there are too many shortcuts to remember. I've found the perfect aid to help, this fantastic keyboard shortcut layout by Zerolag.

How to Read the Keyboard Shortcuts Key:

Photoshop Tool Shortcut = grey text
Action Shortcut = blue text

1. Look for the Photoshop Tool Shortcut (grey text) or Action Shortcut (blue text) that you want to perform on the keyboard.
2. If you want to use a Photoshop Tool Shortcut (gray text), press on the corresponding key. (Example: To access the “Type” Photoshop Tool, press the letter “T” key)
3. If you want to use an Action Shortcut (blue text), hold down the Command key, then press on the Action Shortcut key you want indicated in blue text. (Example: To access the “Transform” Action Shortcut, hold down the Command key and press the letter “T” key)

How to Perform Other Shortcuts Not on the Keyboard:

Follow the indicated keys/actions next to the specific shortcut you want to perform. (Example: To “Switch Tools” hold down the Shift button while pressing a Photoshop Tool Shortcut, always indicated in grey text.

Stay Away from Mountain Lion OS 10.8.2

If you're thinking of upgrading to Apple's Mountain Lion, don't. 

Before you buy or upgrade your computer with Mountain Lion, please first take a look in the Apple support forums to see the issues people are having. Ever since coding in 'Gateway' to watch the apps that you install, the OS is nothing short of buggy.

A few of the comments are: Sorry I upgraded,... I never would have upgraded if I knew this was going to happen,... How can I downgrade my OS,.... and one guy that had a PC and came to apple to get away from PC issues said' I have a shiny, $3,000 paperweight, I'm so sorry I bought a mac!
One of the major problems that I have is it won't accept any of my fonts that I had purchased. Thousands of fonts and they all say 'cautious' or 'don't use' in their Font Book app. If I enable any of them, Adobe CS6 crashes. Although it's partially Adobe's fault here, you can use the older versions on an older OS version.

The interface in Snow Leopard worked flawlessly as well as Adobe CS4. 

Minor issues in Mountain Lion is that the interface isn't as user friendly as before. The send icon in Mail is way over on the left hand side, there are animating windows that take and extra second to open and close and the only want to stop them is in 'Terminal'. They are set as defaults and there is no where to stop them. Users/library is no longer accessible, you have to use the Finder 'Go To' and type in code to find it. You don't have the OS on a DVD any more, you have to sign in to Apple and download from their site. You may as well buy a PC. I've been using Apple since the Quadra, but sorry Apple, you've come a long way down.

The complaints abound. From Adobe apps to wifi issues.

You can find them by joining Apple Discussions, then go here:
https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/os_x_mountain_lion?view=discussions

Another thing is I think, this is totally a guess, that some of the macs made in 2012 have faulty logic boards. I bought one and returned it after 3 weeks and the next one was much better. The other mac said that one of my internal hard disks had Lion on it when they are both Snow Leopard. It kept spontaneously rebooting itself, apps would be in 'start up items' at every boot up even though they had been deleted, auto fill would work in my browsers. I wonder how many people have 'Apple Lemons'. A combination only fit for consumption, but not for office work.

Diet for a Cat with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Updated 2.14.13 He is doing really well so far.

This article follows my original on Dealing with a Cat with Inflammatory Bowel Disease you can find here: http://chris-wrinn.blogspot.com/2012/12/living-with-cat-with-inflammable-bowel.html

I've come across a few things that are helping my cat with IBD and wanted to share in the hopes that it may help your cat, also. I can't promise, but my cat was close to the end. Not eating, having to have Mirtazipine, (PTSD drug), as an appetite stimulant, up to 15mg of Prednisolone, Flagyl. All kinds of things that may have done him more harm in the long run. Except for the MethylCobalamin B-12 shots, they're the least harmful of everything else I was given. His levels were very low, so he needs 1 a week for 6 weeks, then one a month thereafter. The B-12 shots were advised by his veterinarian. I wouldn't give a cat this amount unless his blood levels were checked first.

I put the following protocol together from holistic pet books and online vet sites. I never thought in a million years he would eat this stuff, but he loves it. Here goes:

One thing to try is make a solution of Slippery Elm. This is a wonderful herb for calming inflammation in the stomach and intestines. We still do this at least once or twice a day.

1 tsp (or more) of Slippery Elm in 1/2 Cup of filtered water. Simmer for 1-2 minutes (some say to simmer for 10 - 15 mins and use a full cup of water. The point is that it should be thicker than water when cool. If it isn't, add more slippery elm, you can't over do it. It is harmless). Don't full boil. Let cool and store in a glass jar in the refrigerator. This will last a week in the refrigerator. You will see a clear substance on the sides of the pan and in the jar. This is what soothes the whole digestive tract.
IMPORTANT; Give 3 to 5cc's by mouth about a half an hour before every meal. Use a syringe without the needle. Put the cat on your lap facing you and stick the syringe under his lip. Only give him a wee bit at a time. Pet him and keep him calm. Don't go fast and make it a bad experience.  Slippery Elm can deplete iron if given too close to feeding time. If he has a passion for liver, he might be iron deficient.

I did the slippery elm all the time in the beginning, but as of 2-1-13, I've been able to stop or only give it to him if he seems distressed.

Also we're putting L-Glutamine and TMG in his food. It doesn't taste or smell.

Only let  him eat food for 30 minutes, then take it away. Don't give in to him if he wants to eat in-between. If he has diarrhea, solid food will make it worse, feed him homemade chicken broth, not store bought. There is a vast difference. I'll give the recipe below. We all know we have to let them eat if they haven't eaten, this is if you're cat is doing OK and eating well.

(I do not do this any longer, but left it in in case it might work for you) I take (organic only) a sweet potato and a white potato. Boil then mash them well. I mix 50/50 food with them. The GI doc at the Animal Hospital said try raw as did many of the books.

Many vets say to stay away from the common foods like chicken, use venison, turkey, lamb or duck instead. NO dry food. Raw foods have enzymes in them that help with digestion. Once cooked, the enzymes are dead. Same with human food. I do give him raw at times, but he seems to do better with cooked.

Call me crazy, but I put my hand on him in desperation and asked St Francis of Assisi to help with him. That's when the HCL came into my head. I've used it for myself and decided it would be good to try on him.

I now give him a small capsule taken in part from a 650mg HCL with Pepsin before every feeding. It seems to be working. Since they eat meat, and protein is digested by acid, this made sense. I tried Pepsid and it didn't work for him. But the HCL seemed to work. I only gave it to him for a week b/c I noticed he started burping. Stop when you see that if you try it. Monitor them closely. You don't want the acid to burn his stomach.

He now likes the Duck and Pea & Venison from Natural Balance with raw, organic veal or chicken liver. That's been working very well with the Royal Canin Hypo Allergenic Duck and Venison.

Do NOT buy the cheap supermarket brand food. They are loaded with salt and chemicals. Some of the animals in them come from rendering plants which accept euthanized animals. More poisons in your pet. NO FISH! Oh how my cat loves fish and I do give it to him if he totally stops eating.

Don't mix foods together. Change their food often. They seem to want to keep different foods in their systems so their bodies won't get used to them and get inflamed thinking it's a foreign invader.

Then I take chlorophyl (chlorella) tablets or green powder and mix with enough water to make a paste and I put a little of that in, too. If you can get your cat to eat a little garlic, not enough to be harmful, more power to you. (I've since stopped this, but you can keep it up if you like)

I ALWAYS give pro and Pre Biotics from Dr. Mercola and Digestive Enzymes with each feeding.

I ALWAYS give him a little bit of organic raw chicken  or veal liver, whether I give him canned or raw food. Only about a half teaspoon or less.

I give a little squirt of human Omega 3 fish oil from a capsule. One time a day mixed with the food.

Remember, they're immune systems are already compromised, so we want to put the purest form of food we can get not to cause further irritation.

When I'm giving him raw, I add a sprinkle of a combination of: Taurine, COQ 10 400mg, Quercitin, LGlutamine. If he's having the canned food, I won't use as much as Taurine is already in them.

I've ordered my Prednisolone from Wedgewood Pharmacy, a compounding pharmacy. They have a tiny pill that is chicken flavored and melts as soon as it hits the tongue so you don't have to shove it down his throat. Thank you for this! Your vet will have to order it and it will be delivered to your house. Another nice perk.

CHICKEN BROTH
(healthy for humans, too. So is the slippery elm!)

There's lots of collagen in this soup which doesn't make it into canned or boxed brands.

Start with a whole chicken, either take the meat off or leave it on. Cut up all the bones into smaller pieces. You want the marrow to be in the soup. Leave the ligaments and tendons. Cook in a crock pot for 12 to 48 hours. I go 48. Drain the broth off, refrigerate or freeze the extra. I have to add a wee bit of salt to mine or he won't eat it. The commercial foods are loaded with salt and unfortunately, he's used to that. I will try to wean him off of it. It's still an ongoing process.

I might have forgotten something, if I do, I'll be sure to update.
The books I like are 'The New Natural Cat' by Norma Eckroate. She called it Irritable Bowel Disease in her book, but it's the treatment for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. A site with good information is http://holvet.net/slippery_soup.html 

Take away the scoopable litter and use a more natural form. They lick their feet and that clumping action takes place in their digestive tract. 

I hope this helps someone with their cat.

Check back to see if anything changes. So far so good.

Living With a Cat with Inflammable Bowel Disease or IBD

You found me because you're probably going through the IBD Blues and don't know where to turn. I've just about had it and was almost pulling my hair out. I wish this disease on no pet owner. My cat is adorable and only 10 years old. I was almost ready to have him put down because I could almost not take it any more. Eating, not eating, wanting to eat, and not eating, vomiting, then a few good days, diarrhea then normal stools. It's enough to drive a person mad!

I brought him to the emergency hospital in March after he stopped eating. They did their $2000+ job. You have to pay before they even look at him. Thickened intestinal walls and an enlarged heart showed from the ultrasound. So they put him on steroids. If I wanted to spend another $3400 for a biopsy, they might be able to tell me a little more, no guarantees anything else would show. I figured, let's see how it goes with their recommendations before spending any more $'s.

So they sent me home Flagyl, Prednisolone and Mirtazapine, a PTSD Veteran's psych drug which acts as an appetite stimulant in a cat. It worked. Only for a few months. I stopped the Flagyl as it's an antibiotic, he hated it and it didn't seem to do him any good. After a while, the Pred didn't work any more, either. I tried from 15mg to 2.5mg a day. He is also on MethylCobalamin B-12 Shots, 1 a week for 6 weeks then one a month thereafter. His level was 145, very low. Nothing would make him eat. It seemed when he had food in his stomach, he acted normal and had normal BM's. Even though he was eating VERY well during the good times, he was still losing weight. Whenever he stopped eating, he had diarrhea. Go figure.

Every day he follows me around, looks at me and wants to eat. Everything I give him, he rejects. It really wears on you. You want to help him, but you can't. It's enough to push you over the edge. Trying to get him to eat and heal him is now my full time job.

This month, December, 2012, he stopped eating again and had a bloody stool. Back down to the Emergency Hospital. So, another $2,000 later with a biopsy and another ultrasound, we've determined he has IBD and not Leukemia, but they couldn't be sure because they only took a small sample of his intestine and cancer 'could' be lurking somewhere else. Luckily, the bloody stool was from a tear near the rectum and not cancer. The other good news was that his colin was normal and no longer thickened. So part of him improved.

Again they sent me home with more Pred, Flagyl and Mirtaz and now Lukeran, a cancer drug because it helps with IBD at times. Same old tune which didn't help the first time around. All costly drugs that are used for humans, also.

I kept thinking, how much quality time would he have to live with those drugs? Chemo and Pred, two strong steroids that stop cell growth and a psych drug which makes him wonky. The liver is so tiny and can only process so many toxins, and the kidneys, they won't tolerate much, either. No life for a kitteh or a kitteh owner. There was an ominous cloud of doom hanging over my head.

Then in the middle of the night, I awoke remembering I have 4 natural health books on cats. Why didn't I think of that before?! So the next day we sat down and went through them all.  There in front of me was a protocol to try! Hope at last! At least is is something other than toxic drugs. I got to it immediately! (This disease is a series of hopes and disappointments)

One think that I knew would be helpful was a special recipe using Slippery Elm! I've used natural meds on myself whenever possible and was knocking my head against the wall for not thinking of this $2000 ago. Better late than never.

I am currently on this journey and decided to write about it as I go along. I don't know if this will work or not. I started this on Sunday, December 16th. I ended all the drugs cold turkey that day. So far, he is sleeping a lot, but he hasn't vomited. That is a BIG deal. He isn't eating a lot, but he is eating. That is a BIG DEAL, too. He still has diarrhea, but the stools have a bit of substance to them.

I don't know if this holistic protocol will work, but it's my last and his last hope. I will be back to either update this or start with a new page as this journey progresses, or doesn't progress. It's a grand experiment.

Stay tuned...........

12-20 Update.... he threw up twice and has diarrhea again. Sigh. So now he's back on Pred as well as the natural diet. I will let you know everything I am doing if he stabilizes. If you want to know now, please comment below and I will give the full protocol.

12-24 Doing very well. No vomiting, he's hungry, bright and eating. No Mirtaz. Eating all on his own. I'm changing his food every few days. He's getting used to taking the slippery elm. What a good kitteh.

Stay tuned.......

12-25 So far so good. Eating, not standing hunched over, bright, slightly formed BM's. Still a 'bug' position once in a while, but major improvement. No Mirtaz. I'm hoping he stablilizes.

12-29 Still wanting to eat and eating. This is truly amazing. I can no longer feel the bones in his back. He is putting on some weight. His BM's are almost all solid. I am thrilled. Got my fingers crossed that this lasts.

1-4  He still has very soft BM's and still wants to eat and is eating. I'm feeding him Instinct rabbit and duck right now mixed with 50-60% sweet potato and white potato, chlorella, a little raw chix liver or veal liver. I am starting to fast him by cutting him to 3 meals a day instead of 4. The consensus is to cut them in half, but they admit it's tough on the owners. At least he's gained weight. The eye smudgy he always had in his right eye is gone. Don't know if this will last, but my fingers are forever crossed for him.

1-4 I just posted the diet I have him on:  http://chris-wrinn.blogspot.com/2013/01/recipe-for-cat-with-irritable-bowel.html

1-13-13  He seems to have his inflammation back. I am so disappointed. He's slowed down his eating. I was hoping this upswing would continue. I'm heartbroken :(

1-16 Took him back to the ER and they did some labs. They gave him Cerenia (anti nausea) and it seems to be working today! YAY! At least for now. He's wanting liver like crazy. I wonder if there's something in liver that he is lacking. Maybe it's the B-12? We found out that clumping litter is a no-no, so we changed back to clay. Any suggestions, please post!

Also, I found this AWESOME site that has a ton of information on IBD. http://www.ibdkitties.net/index.html Please check it out!

1-29  I had to give him the Mirtazapine on the 17th to get him jump started again. He also had to take Cerenia. BUT...... I am trying what worked for me. HCL with Pepsin. So far, no drugs and he has been stable and wanting to eat. No potato with this, either. His energy has picked up. I hope it lasts. My ND told me that people take the purple, alkalizing pill, which sends a signal to their stomach that they need to make more acid. Acid digests protein. Then they get caught in a Catch 22 where they have to take even more purple pills to counteract the acid their body keeps churning out. My naturopath had me on 15 capsules of HCL with each meal and after 1.5 years, my body didn't need it any longer. It was amazing. And the docs wanted me to take that purple pill. So glad I listened to my ND and not the allopathic doc. Cats eat meat, but many of the cheaper foods have a lot of carbs in them. I hope this works and will keep you updated. Seems good so far. Keep your fingers crossed for him.

2-14 He is doing incredibly well. I stopped the HCL after about a week b/c I saw him burping, so if you try HCL, be careful and monitor him closely. I can't believe how well he is doing. I will update if there are any more problems or if he takes a dive. So far so good. Keep keeping those fingers crossed! 

4-15  He's doing well. I'm now only feeding him Royal Canin Hypo Allergenic or any kind of quality Rabbit, Royal Canin Duck, Royal Canin and Nature's Balance Venison as well as a little fresh, organic liver (chicken, beef, or calves). I've started cutting down the Pred and he's down to 3/4 tab once a day instead of a whole tab. As soon as I see the 'bug' or 'meatloaf' position, he gets the cyproheptadine or mirtazapine. I wish it would completely go away, but it isn't. At least he's gaining weight instead of losing it.